Formula 1 - 2010 season

[IzzyDutch]

Yeah today it will be officially announced.

Here are the sites of the new teams.. all the sites have pics with models or chassis of the new cars. (Campos in the .pdf file, pretty cool car!)

http://www.virginracing.com/ and www.manorgp.com/

http://www.lotusf1racing.my/

http://www.camposmeta.com/

http://www.usgpe.com/ and http://twitter.com/USF1

Nelson Piquet Jr. has announced that things are looking good for 2010 and plans will be made public soon. Rumour goes he's gonna sign at Campos Meta 1 -who's announced yesterday on Bernie's annoucements that he expects US F1 and Campos to not make it in Bahrain (and that Stefan GP - taking over Toyota stock will be there instead)- that they'll announce their 2nd driver soon and that they're also close to signing a title sponsor.

[Ashba Rocks]

Michael Schumacher to race for Mercedes in 2010

great news for F1

[jarmo]

Kimi, what Ferrari said was that when the car is good he's way up front but when the car isn't he's not motivated enough.

How do you explain the fact that he took the team's first points, podium and only victory of 2009 in a car that wasn't in the top three....

Pretty good for somebody who's not "motivated".


I think the whole not motivated bullshit is made up. He loves to drive.

He seems to hate the politics of F1. The ass kissing, the sponsorship stuff etc.


It's a shame that F1 lost one of the biggest stars due to politics.




/jarmo

[Genesis]

Ex-Renault boss Flavio Briatore has Formula 1 ban lifted

Former Renault Formula 1 team boss Flavio Briatore has had his lifetime ban from motorsport overturned.

The Italian was banned by the sport's governing body, the FIA, for his part in Nelson Piquet Jr's deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

The French high court overturned the ban and awarded Briatore ?13,500 in compensation. The judge said: "The court ruled the sanction was illegal."

BBC Sport understands the FIA will launch an appeal against the decision.

The new FIA president, Jean Todt, has also talked about setting up a new disciplinary process to deal with similar incidents.

Briatore says he will enjoy a "moment of happiness" before deciding whether he will return to Formula 1.

However, his previous role at Renault has now been filled by Eric Boullier, as announced earlier on Tuesday.

"I would like to express my great joy with the decision handed down by the Tribunal de Grande Instance," said Briatore, 59.

"As a sports person and one passionately involved in car racing for more than 20 years, the decision to apply to the civil courts to contest a decision of the FIA was a difficult one for me to take.

"The fact the World Motor Sport Council had been utilised to deal with a personal agenda aimed at pushing me out of the world of competition left me no other choice.

"The decision handed down today restores to me the dignity and freedom certain people had arbitrarily attempted to deprive me of.

"I believe justice has been done today."

Briatore's lawyers had argued at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris that procedures adopted during the investigation were against the FIA's international sporting code.

"We have the feeling that some justice has been reinstated," Briatore's lawyer Philippe Ouakrat said after the verdict.

"I'm certain that the court was quite shocked by the way that the decision was made against Mr Briatore.

"The reputation of Flavio was tarnished but now he can recover his dignity."

Both Briatore and Symonds left Renault in the wake of the "crash-gate" scandal which shocked Formula 1 last summer.

Following Piquet Jr's dismissal by the team, the Brazilian revealed he had been asked to deliberately crash to help his team-mate Fernando Alonso win the race.

Renault were subsequently given a two-year suspended ban for their role in the race-fixing scandal at an FIA hearing in September, while Briatore and Symonds were handed longer punishments.

Briatore launched his legal case in October, claiming his right to a free and fair defence to the charges was flouted.

In his statement following the tribunal's decision, he claimed the court agreed with him that the FIA had:

- rendered a decision it was not competent to pronounce

- infringed its own articles of association

- totally failed to respect my right to a fair defence

- finally, entrusted the tasks of investigation, prosecution and judgment to a principle player known by all to be hostile to me

The Italian had also been seeking 1m euros in compensation but was awarded damages of 20,000 euros (?13,500) with Symonds given 5,000 euros (?4,500).

The court's decision also benefits Briatore as a co-owner of QPR Football Club as he is no longer in danger of breaching the Football League's fit and proper person test.

[Ashba Rocks]

Nice to see ferrari fastest in all three testing sessions this week

hard to tell competitveness in testing i know, but its a better position than we were in last year lol

good to see schumacher setting competitve times too

[IzzyDutch]

The story goes that Ferrari hasn't performed with really heavy fuel tanks, judging by the runs they did. Mercedes looks a bit of the pace compared to Ferrari and McLaren. It also appears that the long wheel base cars (Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, BMW-Sauber) have an advantage on the shorter cars (Renault, Williams). Especially Williams seems to be struggling a bit.

Next week they'll test in Jerez, with Force India, Red Bull and Virgin debuting their cars followed by a Lotus presentation at the end of the week. The new Virgin car looks really fucking cool.. nice shapes and livery. Here's a vid of the shakedown, for more car pics see www.virginracing.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJH8CSmcUJA

The big question now is the status of USF1 and Campos. USF1 had some financial and technical issues, but it looks likely that they'll be doing a shakedown at the end of this month before heading towards Bahrein. Their car called 'Type 1' has a different approach to certain aspects compared to other cars. They have a different type of gearbox, which is larger then other teams but their transmission is shorter. Also their suspensions will be different, appearantly they'll have some hydraulic suspensions were they will be able to lift the car height.

Then there's Campos. They're in big money trouble, can't pay Dallara who's delaying the car release cause of it. Then there's also Stefan GP who's bought the Toyota stock and support and they've already send equipment to Bahrein eventhough they don't have an entry. Today was said to be Campos D-day. Cause Dallara can sell the designs of the car to someone else, like Stefan GP who can hereby then make sure Campos doesn't have a car and can't compeat, with Stefan GP taking their place.

Thing is, Stefan GP has money enough and the Toyota cars, but they also have the 'crooks'. Mike Coughlin from McLaren spy scandal and another ex McLaren sporting engineer who lied to the FIA last year and instructed Hamilton to lie (he then was fired by McLaren). Also as drivers they have Nakajima and appearantly Ralf Schumacher (juck). Bernie Enclestone is a big fan of Stefan GP and wants the team and those drivers in F1.
But then there's Campos, with Bruno Senna (cousin of) driving and I hope he'll get to drive F1 this year cause I'm really curious about his performances. It would be a big shame if he'd loose a chance again after last year when loosing in the end against Rubens Barichello at Brawn. Personally, I'd rather see Campos make it then Stefan GP.

[Ashba Rocks]

The story goes that Ferrari hasn't performed with really heavy fuel tanks, judging by the runs they did. Mercedes looks a bit of the pace compared to Ferrari and McLaren.

I read an interview from Button i think, and he said ferrari's showed some good pace on long runs as well as short runs, massa was doing over 100 laps in testing, so lets see as the testing goes on

[IzzyDutch]

No doubt the Ferrari is fast, cause they've been working the longest on the car, but the question is how much faster cause McLaren is appearantly on a completely different program compared to McLaren. For example, Mercedes still have to run their 2010 diffuser and front wing.

[Ashba Rocks]

Yeah, thats why i said its hard to tell in testing. we wont know till all the cars line up in bahrain 

everyone is jumping to say the ferrari is dominant, but i dont think they will be, you can never discount ross brawn, he masterminded all schumachers cars, and look what he didnt for honda/brawn he wont fail to deliver a good car with mercedes, wether its a winning car time will tell, and red bull have yet to test, and they say there car is evolutionary not revolutionary, which could be dangerous with vettelm and webber

im very looking forward to this season, the competitivness, but most of all, schumacher against the likes of vettel and hamilton and how he will do against rosberg and alonso, its goin to be great

[jarmo]

Ferrari is fast because Alonso designed the car in his basement by himself while he was still at Renault and then told Massa how to run the first tests.

 





/jarmo

[Genesis]

Ferrari is fast because Alonso designed the car in his basement by himself while he was still at Renault and then told Massa how to run the first tests.

The Ferrari does look fast. Interesting that Hamilton is over a second quicker than Button. But since it's testing, who knows. Looking forward to Jerez and seeing how the Red Bulls do.

[Evita]

In a way, Kimi's situation is similar to Villeneuve's situation a couple of years ago.  Except that Kimi is "leaving" a winning team whereas Jacques was thrown out a not winning team.  But they both have been WC one time, they both speak their minds when they need to, and that is something that is not well appreciated in today's F1.  Villeneuve wasn't able to make a come back, partly because of this reason and partly because he has won his WC a long time ago and has been away from winning teams for so long.  That's not the case with Kimi.  Which makes me thinks that, if he wants to come back in 2011, he'll have more chance to succeed, and with a good team.  F1 world's moving fast, so who knows what doors can be open for him in 2011? 
Maybe his year in rally will make people see how he is missed and we need drivers like him in F1. 

Anyway, a little more than one month to go before the start of the season, can't wait... and the Canadian GP is back on, which is awesome news!!  Got my tix! 

[IzzyDutch]

Difference between Kimi and Villeneuve is that Kimi went out on a high - Villeneuve was very slow the last few years, especially in the end. But appearantly Red Bull are open to have Kimi driving in 2011 as they mentioned today.

Wednesday will be D-day for Campos, Dallara the chassis builder has set a final deadline. It's likely they won't make it and the team won't start, with Stefan Gp taking over their place.

Downside is that Senna will loose his drive (again) and Ralf Schumacher will return.. which is the last thing F1 needs. His last two years at Toyota was pretty bad, no motivation and all, besides the fact they said afterwards at Toyota that he wasn't exactly a good-mood bringer.

Looks like Adrian Valles from Spain will take the 2nd US F1 seat.

Tomorrow the new Force India will be presented, the day after the new Red Bull and this friday the new Lotus... looking forward to those

[jarmo]

Rubens Barrichello is in F1, and now possibly the slow Schumacher brother....

But no Kimi.

Irony!



/jarmo

[Genesis]

Rubens Barrichello is in F1, and now possibly the slow Schumacher brother....

But no Kimi.

Irony!

You keep saying this, but keep in mind, the decision to leave F1 was mostly his. He wanted to go to WRC. I'm sure he could have gotten a seat at McLaren if he was really interested. As for Ferrari booting him out, while Kimi is an excellent driver, Alonso is the better, long term prospect. From a Ferrari perspective, that decision seems to working for them considering Alonso's performance in testing. I'm pretty sure he'll be the fastest in Jerez as well.

[jarmo]

Yeah, it was his decision. But a lot of his decision had to do with what F1 is today.

It's still ironic that some people are in F1 and he's not.

When he's obviously one of the more talented drivers.....




/jarmo

[Genesis]

There's always Red Bull and 2011.

Although with this season looking to be a cracker,  I hope people don't forget about him.

[Evita]

It's not of today that the best drivers are not necessarly in F1.... just think about the pnumber of paying drivers that F1 had, especially in te 1990s and beginning of 2000s... and it seems they are coming back now. 

[Cocaine__tongue]

Ferrari is fast because Alonso designed the car in his basement by himself while he was still at Renault and then told Massa how to run the first tests.

 





/jarmo

Alonso's technical design for this new F10 looks brilliant......

Its a shame we will not be able to see the best drivers today (Alonso and Kimi) with the same car!!

[Genesis]

Its a shame we will not be able to see the best drivers today (Alonso and Kimi) with the same car!!

I wonder if it weren't for Massa's accident and the sympathy factor, whether he might have gotten the boot instead of Kimi...